Established in April 2018 by the Barry S. Brook Center for Music Research and Documentation (The Graduate Center of The City University of New York), the BARRY AND CLAIRE BROOK AWARD honors an exceptional single-author or co-authored monograph, dissertation, or edited collection. From 2024 onwards, the prize is awarded to publications on global music history. The award honors an exceptional single-author or co-authored monograph, dissertation, or edited collection on global music history. The prize seeks to recognize publications that contribute to the evolving discourse on global music history and help map its parameters by emphasizing interconnected relationships between diverse musical traditions, rather than presenting them in isolation. We are looking for publications that consider migration, mobility, and the circulation of music across cultures. These publications should explore the synthesis and transculturation of musical traditions, examining how different musical practices have been shaped through global cultural exchange and interaction. Central to this approach is the understanding that music is a cultural practice, shaped by the historical and social contexts it emerges from, and a critical perspective that challenges Western-centric ideas of progress and exceptionalism in music historiography. Whether written individually or collaboratively, we consider publications that prioritize cultural relationships (and joint authorship), as opposed to edited volumes that compile different regional perspectives.

The author(s) of the work will receive a certificate and an optional invitation to deliver a public lecture on the topic of the awarded publication at The CUNY Graduate Center. Dissertations have the opportunity to be published in Brepols series Acta Brookiana.

Beginning in 2024, the awards committee will consist of three distinguished scholars in the field of global music history who will serve overlapping three-year terms. The previous year’s winner will be invited to join the following year’s committee. The director of the Brook Center serves as an ex officio member of the committee. The committee may appoint one or more ad hoc members to review nominated works written in languages outside their area of expertise. Committee members are:

Daniel Chua, University of Hong Kong
Nicholas Cook, University of Cambridge
Daniela Fugellie, Universidad Alberto Hurtado, Chile

Publication nominations will be accepted by the award committee from any individual or organization. Nominated works may be published in any country and language. Works nominated for the 2025 award must have a copyright date of 2024.

Nominations should be submitted to the Brook Center for Music Research and Documentation, The Graduate Center, The City University of New York, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016, or by email to Dr. Tina Frühauf, cmrd@gc.cuny.edu. The nominating individual/organization must arrange with the publisher to provide each member of the awards committee with a hard copy or electronic copy of the publication. Nominated publications must be received by committee members by 1 September 2025. Awards will be announced in December 2025.

For further information, please contact Dr. Tina Frühauf, cmrd@gc.cuny.edu.

Past winners of the Barry and Claire Brook award.